Won't you join our 203k Team?
A home inspection is a wonderful tool that every home buyer should use when purchasing a home. It puts the client at ease in many cases. Most people don’t buy a house every day and many only buy one their entire life. I had an Aunt and Uncle that got married on the ship one the way to America around the turn of the century, settled in Richmond CA and never moved from that spot. There is a lot to be said about that but that is another story.
Let’s look at what a “home
inspection” is. It is an inspection of the visible aspects of a home by a
professional who knows what to look for during the inspection and how it might
affect the buyer of this home. It is the home inspector’s job to discover and
point out anything they find that might affect the livability of the home and
the structure. Many times they get accused of “killing a deal” because they
discovered what they were hired to discover. That has always been a joke with
home inspectors but it is a fact and we have all heard it. By the way, this has
never been a true statement, they just report what they see making their buyer
aware of what they are buying.
If we look at this a little closer the home inspector will often “refer” to other trades, licensed professionals, roofers, and structural engineers when they come across something they don’t like or feel requires additional eyes, so to speak. That is all they can do by their procedural code. They cannot be the person that discovers the work then gets to make the repairs, as part of their code of ethics. That person might typically find lots more wrong so they could “pad their construction project” scope of work. This will not happen from a reputable home inspection company belonging to a home inspection association and adhering to their code of ethics. I’ve met allot of home inspectors over the years having been speaker many times at the national conventions of one of the associations or another, and numerous home inspection monthly meetings.
Now you have a home inspection and you may have several references to specific trades to make further inspections. I always recommend a pest inspection but I’m a 203k consultant.
How does a 203k Consultant’s inspection differ from a standard home inspection? They are as different as night and day. Many times we go to the job only to find the borrower already has a home inspection and a pest report. That isn’t all bad. We make a different type of inspection more like a “203k compliance inspection” that resembles a home inspection on the surface but we have to look at the structure and then review any and all existing or soon to be existing reports on the home. Now we have to see and address issues found in the home inspection report and the pest control report but more than that we have to decide what repair is in order for each item called out. We seldom call for other trades to come out and look for us. We, on the other hand, make the decision as to what needs to be completed and provide an approximate cost to fix that item as we create a “scope of work” that a contractor or contractors will bid. If a 203k consultant is doing their job properly they will actually bid the job so the borrower can see if it fits their budget and many times the bid is then whittled down a little bit so it does fit their budget. So a home inspection by a 203k consultant is more of a “deficiency report” yet it does talk about items and their condition good or bad while creating a bid specification to make necessary repairs. The bid specs are prepared and approved by the borrower then this is where many consultants loose it. They are to provide the bid specs to the borrower so the borrower can put them out to some contractors for bid…NOT. Our consultants will actually identify a contractor or contractors at the initial inspection of a property so when the time comes to put this out to bid we send it to the contractors without our prices showing for the client. This way we don’t loose control or momentum and keep this on track for the agents and the lender.
Remember that the consultant gets paid up front on most projects but the rest of the team gets paid a close of escrow. Therefore it is a responsible teammate that maintains control of the situation. Good luck with your next 203k project, they can and do close fast and efficiently. If you want to learn to become a 203k consultant or if you are already a 203k consultant and need high quality 203k consulting software for your reports we are here to serve your needs.
- Mike Young
Reprinted with permission of The Mike Young Team